Friday, December 07, 2007

With the announcement that Lionsgate will bring Saw V to theaters on October 24, 2008, we dropped in a call to our new director, David Hackl, to get a statement for you guys. "You have to realize that I am probably one of the biggest Saw fans out there," Hackl tells Bloody-Disgusting. "My team and I are the ones who have had the awesome task of designing and building the Saw traps since Saw II. So now I'm about to helm Saw V. I'm as psyched as anyone could be. You can let the fans know that they won't be let down or I will have let myself down. Jigsaw might be dead but that would never stop him and it certainly won't stop me. "...My work has just begun." " Watch for our regular coverage to begin as soon as casting is announced.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

I loved SAW IV and since they are already working on SAW V I'm starting the hype train up again already. It kind of sucks because I didn't really hype SAW IV as much as the previous two movies and it managed to be amazingly awesome and refresh my faith in the series. So, hopefully, expect to see coverage of SAW V like I had for SAW II, because now I am HELL OF EXCITED for another flick. I can't wait really.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Just wanted everyone to know the disappointing news, which is (obviously from the headline) that the Saw IV trailer WILL NOT be attached to Halloween. I know we all assumed that, but I have proof. I work at my city's theater, so every week we get an e-mail stating what trailers will be attached or enclosed with the movie coming. Well, Halloween's name was on there but there was no Saw IV listed under it. Instead there is (supposed) to be The Mist, Feast of Love, One Missed Call, and National Treasure 2. It's not even listed under Death Sentence.

It's a little blurry because I had to copy this list, but here is the sheet I am talking about...

What's interesting to note is that it says the trailer running time is 53 seconds. This seems a little short to me, but I guess something is better than nothing.

So I guess we still have yet another week to wait and see the trailer. I'm sorry to disappoint you guys, but I felt like you probably wanted to know. At least we know for sure now, I guess. And who knows, maybe, just maybe, the trailer for Saw IV will pop up under Halloween. Lionsgate may be yanking our chains or something. I try to be optimistic.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Coming after Clive Barker and the panel for Midnight Meat Train might have been a tough act to follow, but director Darren Lynn Bousman and producer Mark Burg were up for it, having their first Lionsgate presentation in Hall H at Comic-Con International after years of doing the smaller rooms at the San Diego Convention Center. Their first announcement was that the MPAA had just given their first cut of Saw IV an NC-17 rating, and they would have to figure out what to do to, either to get it down to an R rating or decide whether to release it with that rating. They also had some problems with their planned Comic-Con clip, as they originally wanted to show the first five minutes of the movie but it was turned down, because it was "just too much" so they had to go with something else.

After a montage of clips from the first three "Saw" flicks, the crowd was treated to the famous line "Do you wanna play a game?" from Tobin Bell, who came out to join them and field a few questions from the audience.

Finally, they got to the clip, which similar to past years, featured one of the many deathtraps from the movie. It opened on an older bald man waking up on the floor of a room with a locked collar attached to a chain around his neck. He starts freaking out when he realizes that his eyes have been sewn shut and he can't see. He starts pulling on the chain to try to release himself and the camera follows the chain to another side where there's another guy (played by Justin Louis) and he has his mouth sewn shut. So the premise is that one guy can't see what's going on, and the other one can see but can't say anything. In between the two of them is a machine with gears that starts yanking on their chains pulling them closer to it and tightening the collar around their necks, and both of them start panicking. The blind man finds weapons (an axe and a sharp hook-like device) and he starts throwing them although he doesn't know what is pulling on him. The guys pull back and forth on the chain each one getting closer to the machine, though the lack of communication makes it impossible for them to work together on solving the puzzle. The younger guy spots a key on the back of the other man's neck and realizing that it might open the locked collar around his neck, he starts making his way over. The two men start fighting and the blinded man swings wildly with the hook and catches the mute man in the leg, blood starts spurting, and then the guy pulls the hook out of his leg and starts hacking the blind man with the axe over and over (or it might have been the hook--honestly, there was so much back and forth as they fought that it was hard to keep track). Finally, the mute man gets the key off the neck of his felled opponent and fumbles to try to open the lock on his neck but the chain pulls him closer to the machine and blood starts pouring out of his mouth because he's run out of time.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

"We broke the news last year that Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton - the dudes behind Dimension's Feast - would be penning Saw IV for Lionsgate. Now that the film is in post-production we also broke the news (here) that David Hackl would be helming Saw V and Saw VI. Today we learned that Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton will also be involved in Jigsaw's next two adventures writing the screenplay for Hackl to direct. Will Jigsaw return? Who knows... but what we do know is that Tobin Bell is signed on for six. More news as it comes in."

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Yes I'm still blind, but the news gets even better this evening. Your #1 source for all things horror, Bloody-Disgusting, has just confirmed through multiple sources that David Hackl, the production designer on Saw II, Saw III and Saw IV and second unit director on Saw II and Saw IV has OFFICIALLY been attached to helm both Lionsgate's Saw V and Saw VI, assuming a hole doesn't form in the Earth and suck the franchise in with it. Will Jigsaw return? I'm sure he will. But this news comes so early don't expect much more until we see how well Saw IV does, which Hackl was once in the running to direct.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Jigsaw and his apprentice Amanda are dead. Upon the news of Detective Kerry's murder, two seasoned FBI profilers, Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) and Agent Perez, arrive at the depleted police precinct and help veteran Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) sift through Jigsaw's latest grizzly game of victims and piece together the puzzle. However, when SWAT Commander Rigg, the last officer untouched by Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), is suddenly abducted and thrust into the madman's harrowing game, the officer has but ninety minutes to overcome a series of interconnected traps...or face the deadly consequences.

Rigg's citywide pursuit leaves a wake of dead bodies, and Detective Hoffman and the FBI uncover long hidden clues that lead them back to Jigsaw's ex-wife Jill (Betsy Russell). The genesis of Jigsaw's evil is unveiled, exposing the puppet master's true intentions and the sinister plan for his past, present and future victims.

Monday, July 09, 2007

Oren Koules on SAW 5: "We knew the story to five before we started shooting four."

Production Designer David Hackl discusses TRAPS: "It's not just, 'How do we kill the guy?', it's 'How do we kill them really well?'"

The Great Tobin Bell discusses Jigsaw's role in SAW 4: "There's plenty of him in this film. But it's not about the size of the role, it's the impact you have on the story." Tobin continues, "Jigsaw has a very interesting storyline in this film and I think it takes you someplace you haven't been before; there's a couple of extremely impactful scenes."

DLB (Director Darren Bousman) discusses the one and only Tobin Bell ("Jigsaw"): "Tobin always has ideas. I think that's why the saw films have continued to work." DLB continues, "There was one scene that wasn't working and in a half hour, Tobin and I rewrote the scene and it worked amazingly. He walks around with this leather-bound notebook and it's his philosophy on Saw. Any question you ask him... what high school he went to, what was his first job... he's got it in this book."

Producer Mark Burg discusses SAW 4, SAW 5 and the amazing SAW Crew: "It's never been easy. It's just hard coming up with a good script that quickly. And we're working on Saw V right now. Part of the day is dealing with Saw IV and the other part of the day is dealing with the writers on ideas for Saw V. Our team is so good. It's the same cinematographer, same production designer, same costume designer, same line producer, same prop master, same special effects man. These guys, they all kind of look forward to us coming to Toronto to start. It's always the same crew. It's kind of like going to a camp and everyone comes back every summer."

The great Tobin Bell ("Jigsaw"): "Are you ever going to see Jigsaw have a love scene? Well, I felt like I had a couple with Amanda in the last film. They didn't write any Amanda/Jigsaw relationship in that movie. So whatever we came up with, we had to come up with in a touch, in a look, in a feeling, in a moment which is blessed stuff when you're an actor. If you can create any sense of reality, any connection with your partner, it makes it all worthwhile. It feels very right. When that gets captured by the camera and makes it through the shark infested waters of editing onto the screen, then that's great."

Producer Oren Koules wants SAW Fans to know: "Leigh and James are still very much involved."

A SAW 4 tease from Producer Mark Burg: "All I can tell you is you're going to get to the end of the movie and people will go, 'Oh my God, how did I not see that coming?'"

The SAW Producers on the SAW 4 script-- Oren Koules: "In some ways this is our best script we've ever had." Mark Burg: "I love this script. I love it."

Producer Oren Koules: "One of the things we said is we love the way Saw I ended where you get to see the fans' faces and when Jigsaw started rising, people were like, 'Oh my God.' We used to watch them. So we want to have a great ending again. It's one of the things we worked from the ending back. We knew where we wanted to end it."

Tobin Bell ("Jigsaw"): "One of the things these guys have done really well has been to not only have all the traps and all the tricks and all the gore and all the murder and mayhem, but they've tried to infuse the films with a delicacy and intelligence that I think offsets that."

The one and only Tobin Bell discusses JIGSAW: "When I was doing Saw II, I came up with 130 things that disturb this guy, that disturb him."

Now, upon the news of Detective Kerry's murder, two seasoned FBI profilers, Agent Strahm and Agent Perez, arrive in the terrified community to assist the veteran Detective Hoffman in sifting through Jigsaw's latest grizzly remains and piecing together the puzzle.

However, when SWAT Commander Rigg is abducted and thrust into a game, the last officer untouched by Jigsaw has but ninety minutes to overcome a series of demented traps and save an old friend or face the deadly consequences.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Sunday, June 17, 2007

A poster for the upcoming "Saw 4" has been going around the internet, and nobody was really sure what the marketing people were going for. The poster shows surgical tools on a plate being served with a knife and fork.

According to Lionsgate, the poster is "not any kind of official art for the film, it was the invitation to a press event." The imagery of the plate, silverware and server gloves are a direct reference to the fact that this is an invitation to an event at a restaurant."

Sorry for not keeping up, but here is the news, and I swear to keep this thing updated.

Darren Lynn Bousman answerd some questions on HOJ:

Jordanaivrum

- you asked how man people worked on the story for SAW IV... Great question - - EVERYONE!!! seriously - from the production designer to the prop guys. We have all been doing these films for the last three years so we all kind'a feel like it's our baby. We take input from EVERYONE on set. That being said - Marcus, Patrick and I spent many a long hour on the phone talking about where the story should go. Once we were close we brought it to the saw family to get their ideas...

Brock Manson - will this story focus on Jeff? Every plot synopsis you might have read online is false... trust me when I tell you - the real 'story' has not been released.

Strictly Bars and Bad Boys - - are there a lot of twists? YES!!! but again - not all twists are THE GUY GETS UP OFF THE FLOOR. A twist in my book is any time you think you know whats going on - and come to realize you don't.

SAWesome89 - - you wanted to know about the teaser trailer... I don't know when they will be releasing this - but I can say - keep watching on line - for some OTHER surprises very very soon.

deserted soul - - Will we get to know more about Amanada - and will we see what was in the note... I can say the answer to ONE of your questions is YES... I Just can't tell you which one I am answering yes to!

Disciple Of Jigsaw - - you ask if I ever read SAW STORIES written by fans. During Saw II I use to read a lot of them... But currently I am swamped with editing this bad boy - as well as prepping my next project REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA. So my time is pretty short... I tell you what I do look at though is the ART people draw based on the saw films... We have some real talented fans out there!

copycatjigsaw - - you ask if someone is returning for the first film... YES!!!! just can't tell you who!!!!

Ok guys - I have to go back to editing... We are currently editing the ending... It's crazy... Let me tell you about it... Oh wait... I can't do that... but you will see it soon enough!

"There was a scene in this movie that made me regurgitate in my mouth."

That's how Darren Lynn Bousman describes the next chapter in the Saw series. He recently got back from shooting the fourth entry in this hugely popular franchise. He met up with me and a couple of other journalists at Parc Restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard to dish about his latest gory entree, and his experiences making it.

Every possible question was asked. Did he answer them? Not so much. Saw is a mystery, whether you like it or not. And they aren't ready to show all of their cards just yet. Here is how Darren described his new film:

"What I can tell you about Saw IVis this. Everyone thinks we are doing a prequel. We are not. Is Tobin back in this? One hundred percent he is. Is he a bad ass in this one, you bet he is. Is Tobin only in flashbacks? No he's not. Is Tobin Dead? Yes he is. Is Tobin a ghost? No he's not. It's hard to explain. All we can say is watch the movie. If you can get the end of the movie, then you are my personal fucking heroes. I read the script and didn't get the ending. A lot of the actors don't know the ending either. We only gave the ending to Tobin. No one else got it."

Are you curious? I know I am. I might have to see this one in the theater.

Here is the rest of our chat (note - This interview is culled from a couple of different interviews. Most of it is exclusive, but some of it came from the informal roundtables that were also conducted at the time, inside a bar, by a bunch of drunk people):

Darren Lynn Bousman: We are not churning these movies out. We just never stopped production. So, it's not like we have to come back and figure this out. I used to work on the The X Files, and I would have to walk up to them and ask if they knew where this was going. We defiantly know where this is going. It does have an ending. And it is badass. There is a definite conclusion. We figured it out. We found the end. Did I think I was going to come back for IV? No, I thought III would have been the end. For me, at least. III was the end of that story. But there was always envisioned separate stories that were supposed to be going on in Saw. I just happened to take part in the beginning of the next story.

Why did you come back

Darren Lynn Bousman: It was the heap loads of cash that came pouring out of the dump truck they pulled up next to my house. No. What it really boils down to is two things. Unlike starting from scratch, I'd been with this project for two years now. I knew the people involved. I knew the producers. I knew the cast. So it wasn't starting at square one, it was coming directly back into it.

Can you tell me anything that hasn't already made the rounds?

Darren Lynn Bousman: Well, here is a funny anecdote that nobody knows about yet. We're filming the movie, and I wanted something more intense. There was a thirty-minute chunk of film that was kind of boring. I needed something that would make people squirm, and cringe. I went to David Hackle and told him that, in the next four days, we are shooting these scenes that I really don't care about. He agreed that they weren't too good. So I said, lets put a trap there. I called Mark into work on a Friday. I decided I wasn't going to work for the next four days. I was going to put a trap in here. And they were like, "What?" I pitch them the trap, and they think it's a pretty good trap. So I call Hackle on Thursday. I tell him that I need this really complex trap built and done. He's like, "Uh, okay." We took these days that we were going to film and built a trap instead. We built it on Friday to shoot on Monday morning. And its one of the best traps in the movie. It's absolutely amazing. That's why these Saw films are successful. We are continually working on the script. Making it better. Every single Saw film, I am looking at the edit, and I'm like, "oh, fuck. I didn't get this. It would be so great if we had it." Example, in Saw II we have this scene were these guys are hut-hutting it up these stairs. They are walking up there, and it's boring. Someone needs to get their leg or ankle broken. And we were done shooting. I tell the editor that it sucks. He says, "It does suck." I tell him that we need to fix it. So I tell the assistant editor that I need a staircase. I tell him to go build me a staircase. So the assistant editor goes to Home Depot, and for two days he builds this staircase. I get a Panavision, and I reshoot the scene with the assistant editor going up the stairs. He's, like, what? Four foot nine. I put him in S.W.A.T. gear, and we reshot little segments of stuff like that. We got the ankle breaking, and that was never in the script. We don't do normal reshoots were you have two hundred people and a week to film it. We do two-hour reshoots.

How closely are you involved with the editing process?

Darren Lynn Bousman: Every day. I am in there every day. I work on all aspects of the film. The sound effects, the digital effects. A big part of my job is getting the sound mix where it needs to be. I remember last year, I was in the audio booth from eight o'clock in the morning to ten o'clock everyday, screaming, "No, I want it to go down like that!" It was intense. I was in the editing room, and I saw one of the traps go off on film, and I started crying. It was the worse thing I had ever seen in my life. The editor said, "Just give me a day." He went back, he added flash frames. And the sound design. And I was thoroughly disgusted. Sound does so much to horror movies.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

FEARnet has the very first stills from the set of Saw IV! Director of Saw II and III, Darren Lynn Bousman is helming Saw IV, which is now in its early stages of production in Toronto. Saw IV is scheduled to hit theaters in October, continuing the tradition of the last three films of the franchise.

Description from IMDB - Jigsaw still haunts the living in Saw IV, forcing them to appreciate life, or face death. As a continuation of Saw III, Jeff must find his daughter and escape the building to which they are confined before they both die. After finding another tape of Jigsaw, Jeff realizes there may be a newly added piece of the puzzle that he must decipher before it’s too late.

Check out this exclusive behind the scenes still from the set of Saw IV only on FEARnet. More to come!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

While attending ShoWest in Las Vegas, ComingSoon.net had a chance to talk with two of the principals behind Lionsgate's Saw franchise, Tobin Bell, who has played Jigsaw in all three movies, and Twisted Pictures Co-Producer Oren Koules about this year's Saw IV, which starts shooting in Toronto on April 16.

With a month to go, Bell still didn't know very much about how they were going to bring Jigsaw back after his apparent demise in the previous film. "I haven't read the script, don't know the story. I know I'm in it, but that's it," he told us. "It's difficult for me to comment on something I haven't read so I don't know what they're going to do or how they're going to do it. Hollywood's amazing; they come up with all kinds of ways to accomplish things. If I knew I'd tell you, but I don't. In some ways, it's a blessing."

Koules, who was being honored with partner Mark Burg with ShoWest's Award of Excellence in Producing, gave us a few more hints about the fourth film in the franchise. "Tobin knows some clues and what to tell the fans is that there are three or four scenes in 'Saw III' that seem very innocuous and benign but when you see 'Saw IV' and they flash back to those, they have a whole different meaning. We shots scenes for 'Saw III', knowing they'd be in IV. We knew what we wanted to do for IV so we actually shot scenes for III but tried to make them very innocent scenes that didn't really make sense, but when it comes back, it's a huge part about Saw IV."

While doing press for Saw III, Leigh Whannell seemed ready to have that be his last movie in the series (as did Darren Lynn Bousman who will be back for Saw IV) but Koules told us that Wan and Whannell are still in the picture. "They're totally involved. Two of the biggest ideas in this movie are Leigh's. We hired writers, but they were still very much involved."

A lot of people have been wondering how long they'll be able to keep making these Saw movies to which Koules responded, "Until people stop going."

Monday, February 19, 2007

"Saw" series screenwriter Leigh Whannell tells Fangoria that Saw II and Saw III director Darren Lynn Bousman is coming back to direct Saw IV, which Lionsgate has targeted for an October 26 release.

While Whannell is not writing the screenplay this time, he'll still be around. "James [Wan] and I, as executive producers, are still treating it like our baby; we'll still oversee it," he tells the magazine. "I've definitely been privy to the ideas they've had and the scripts they've been writing, and it's coming along well. I'm actually excited."

Next up for Whannell is Dead Silence, which he co-wrote with Wan. He's also writing a kids' movie and "working on something with James, which I would describe as a sci-fi/thriller/noir film with a couple of horror elements."